Stabbing Victim Recalls Crime

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A man is recovering after being stabbed in the chest and the suspect arrested for stabbing him is a 10-year-old boy.

That boy is charged with stabbing a friend's grandfather Monday in Carbondale.

Now, the victim is talking about what allegedly happened to him at the hand of such a young suspect.

Michael Camerino, 65, of Carbondale is going to make a full recovery, but he said he is still in shock that such a crime could have been committed by a 10 year old.

The boy faces charges of aggravated assault and harassment.

Police were called to a house on Belmont Street in Carbondale early Monday morning.

Camerino, who has been released from the hospital, said he had fallen asleep on the couch Sunday nigh and woke up to a knock on the door.

He recognized a neighborhood boy who often played with his granddaughter. The boy asked several times to come in saying he had left something inside the house.

"I said to him, I thought about it and I said, 'Well, what are you looking for?' and he said, 'I don`t know.' I said, 'How can you look for something if you don't know what it is?' And then he just lunged at me and stabbed me in the chest," Camerino recounted.

Prosecutors said the boy's weapon was a filet knife. The boy's name won't be released because he is being charged as a juvenile. He faces charges of aggravated assault and harassment.

Camerino's daughter and her three children also live in Camerino's house. She said it's hard to believe this could have happened at the hands of someone so young.

"I get caught between a rock and a hard place, because it`s my father, but it`s also a child. Children aren`t born to commit crimes like that. There has to be, in my heart, another reason why this happened. Why he was out at 2 a.m.?" asked Camerino's daughter.

Camerino added that his family no longer feels safe in their neighborhood.

“If a 10 year old can do this, I mean, nothing is safe. I have grandchildren that age, I can’t imagine them doing something like that," he said.

There is no word if any action will be taken against the boy's parents. For now, the boy will stay at the county juvenile detention center before a hearing in family court.

"We don`t want want him to just be punished for the rest of his life and his life go down the tubes because of something he did that could have been prevented if he had gotten the right treatment. And that goes back to the parents," Camerino's daughter added.

Prosecutors said they decided to keep the boy at the detention center because of the seriousness of the charges. At a court hearing later this week they will decide if the child will be allowed to go back to his home in Carbondale.